Time Warner Cable lost 831,000 cable subscribers in 2013

TWC said it lost 215,000 video subscribers in Q4 but added about 40,000 high-speed Internet home customers, CFO Arthur Minson said 1/8.

That marked an improvement from the third quarter for a cable company that’s the subject of takeover speculation. It lost 304,000 video customers, almost double the number Wall Street investors had expected, and 24,000 Internet users during that period, noted a Reuters story.

Minson said the company has seen favorable trends so far in January, after having added 60,000 subscribers in December – 40,000 more than it managed in the same month a year earlier.

“Seven of the last eight weeks have been a little bit better than last year so we have our mojo back on the subscriber side, and we’re very optimistic as we head into the year,” Reuters said Minson told an investor conference held on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the latest news has it that Time Warner Cable shareholders may give incoming CEO Rob Marcus thumbs up to reject a $62 billion offer for the company. Reason? The stock price keeps going up—36% so far this year. There are huge savings and efficiencies from consolidation at stake for an acquiring company such as Charter Communications or Comcast. Comcast is still waiting to see how TWC reacts to Charter’s bid, then it would know better what number to offer. As well, TWC and Charter could do a deal and then look at accepting other offers, likely (of course) from Comcast. On the other hand, we may end up seeing a bidding war—all good for TWC stakeholders.